29. Januar

Today Nihilumbra appears at Humble Bundle along with 6 other awesome Spanish Games in the Humble Weekly Bundle 'MADE IN SPAIN'! This is a moment every aspirant to successful indie game awaits, and it has finally arrived for our good old pal Nihilumbra.

24. Dezember 2014

Reviews

“is the kind of game that many will look over because they think they’ve played things like it hundreds of times before. It’s not. This is a project filled with incredibly smart puzzle design and an important message at its core. Anyone who absentmindedly picked it up during a sale should do themselves a favor and play right now. If you don’t yet own it, then definitely consider making a purchase in the near future. Nihilumbra is a thoroughly enjoyable experience that will stick with you. (4.5/5)”
http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2013/12/07/review-nihilumbra/64848/

“The whole game is great, but for me the presentation takes Nihilumbra from being a fun and clever indie game to something really special. Its presentation rivals games like Braid and Limbo. Everything looks hand drawn and a bit ethereal, a mix between a Tim Burton movie and a Jhonen Vasquez comic. The visuals are complemented by an orchestral score that’s just Danny Elfman enough, and narration that is very well voiced for the story. The tone of the game is serious, and the presentation really supports that rather than undermining it and making it come off as silly.”
http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2013/09/23/4cr-plays-nihilumbra/

“Nihilumbra shines brightest here (Void Mode). Where the story merely hints at the potential of behind its mechanics, Void Mode demonstrates their genius. It brings out Nihilumbra’s best levels, testing your mettle while retaining the game’s penchant for easily understood puzzles. The mode tests you without employing opaque logic, making you reexamine how you approach problem solving. Plus, there’s even a couple story hooks that bring some additional closure, thus sweetening the deal. (4.5/5)”
http://entertainium.org/pc/nihilumbra-review/

As with most games of this type, you don't just save at any time -- there are save points. Just touch the globe -- the small lights (aka checkpoints) that will "forgive your mistakes" -- to save your progress. These are nicely spaced, so don't worry!

Unlike most of these games is that we have multiple profiles to choose from (three of them,) so we can switch profiles if more than one person wants to play the game at once.

If you hit Esc. during gameplay, you'll see a button that says "Resume Game" and three symbols: A compass, a swirl, and some gears. Clicking on the gears will take you to the game settings, the middle button (the swirl) will take you back to your last checkpoint (you can cancel if you didn't mean to hit that button!) and the compass will take you back to the maps page, and from there you can get back to the main menu by clicking on the arrow at the bottom right of the page.

Where to start? Well, I guess at the beginning would be best!

The game very clearly shows us how to play, without being annoying in any way. The instructions are seamlessly introduced by our narrator, who stays with us throughout our journey, giving us new information and telling us the story. What a wonderful voice they chose, and such an interesting way to progress the story!

The controls are basic to start with -- the arrow keys or W-A-S-D and space bar to jump. I recommend using W-A-S-D, as later in the game it's nearly impossible to continue to use the arrow keys whilst managing your colors! As we progress, we discover colors which allow us to affect the world around us. The game teaches us to use these colors very clearly, so don't worry! Each color has a different effect, and I don't want to ruin any surprises, so I'll just mention the first two: The only color we have at the very beginning is purple, which is unusable until we discover other colors, for it allows us to erase any colors we place or find. Soon we will learn how to use blue, which creates an icy surface where it is placed. NOW we can use the purple, if we so desire. ;) Each world area we visit teaches a new color ability, and all told, we have five worlds and five colors: Blue, brown, green, yellow, and red (though not in that order.)

So how do we use our colors? It's really very easy. In the top right corner is an orb showing your current color. Click on it to open up your color palette (see the first picture in post #1 for a visual.) Choose whatever color you need for the current situation you're facing. To place the color, simply hold down your mouse button and swipe the cursor over the surface you want to coat.

You have a limited amount of color to use, and sometimes it's necessary to remove the color you've placed to complete the current puzzle. To do so you COULD click on the color palette, choose purple, and click-and-drag the areas where you want to remove it... OR, you can do it the easy way and simply right-click-and-drag. :D

During my second time through the main story I discovered that we can easily and quickly change our color by simply using the scroll wheel on the mouse! Whee~! Happy day!

The experience is really the driving force of the game. It's one thing to watch someone play it, and something else to actually sit back and do it for yourself. Take your time. Discover. Learn. Let yourself be immersed in this beautiful and deadly world. You could power through all the scenes and ignore all of that, but you'd really be missing out.

The primary focus of the game is discovery. Find your way through the worlds without being damaged or reclaimed by the Void. Nihilumbra is very story-driven, and for the most part, we have plenty of time explore and figure out how to solve the puzzles. Towards the end of each world, the Void will advance, leaving us with only a certain amount of time to get through the final screens. The use of the scroll wheel to change colors makes a big difference in the difficulty level, but even if you're doing the point-and-click method (which I was the first time through!) it's still doable.

Five colors, five worlds... Before I knew it, I came to 'The End' and was watching the credits. *cry* I felt so wistful, wishing that it hadn't ended so soon, wishing that there was more... Two hours is all it took (the second time 'round,) yet I felt that it was still worth the asking price.

. . . except that it wasn't 'The End' at all! It turned out that this was only the beginning of my journey in Nihilumbra, and the true challenge still lay before me. Now the 'Void Mode' was unlocked, and the focus of the game changes. We've finished with the main story, but still have much to do! Every single save point from the main game is now a complex puzzle that needs to be solved, and all puzzles must be completed to have true closure for the story. There are no save points during these puzzles, and I can tell you for certain that you will die -- over and over again -- before you're able to figure things out. The story-driven, take-your-time adventure is over, and is now filled with one complex, mind-bending puzzle after another. Though I had a couple of "how the heck am I supposed to get past that?" moments, I was able to get through the main story without even thinking about about looking at a walkthrough. The Void gameplay, though? I couldn't figure out the very first screen! Mahaha~ I admit that I've had to look a couple of times, but I've been finding great joy in figuring things out on my own whenever I can.

Am I finished with the game? Not even close, but I'm enjoying every moment I spend playing. I can't even begin to tell you how beautifully-done this game is. The combination of story with narration are poignant and thought-provoking, leaving us with a lot to consider, and I found it equally moving my second time through (the main story -- still working on the Void section!) The music is beautiful, though I found it better to have the music and sound effects half the volume of the narration. For me, it was the perfect balance. I really loved everything about the game, and I can't recommend it highly enough! Two thumbs up!

Finished the game today - 100% !I was playing it very slowly, enjoying the concept, story, drawings, ideas, music and all the collors !Story mode was sometimes a bit easy.On the other hand, void mode was, in some parts, quite hard !

One of the best platformer games out there, Grab it guys!This game is like real life, you start as a baby and learn the process of life each level while being chased or haunted by the void.In each level you will learn new things and you need to apply what you just learn to complete the level.The story itself is a life lesson for each and everyone of us.

I really love the narration, music and the artwork.Really a beautiful and fun game. Thank you Beautifun Games.

I didn't really enjoy this as much as I thought I would, playing through the main quest. Once you finish it, the game opens up into a 'void' challenge which is significantly harder than the (easy) main storyline. I didn't enjoy it. It's not a 'revisit' or 'redo' of the original story line levels, but it focuses more on killing void creatures in thos enviroments, rather than exploring and puzzles.

Main storyline took me 2 hours, and i'm not a big fan of difficult platformers, so I had no interest in what may of been a longer definently more challenging mode. Honestly the controls themselves didn't lend themselves to faster paced more difficult platforming/killing, so even if i was grooving on the idea, i can assure you the controls would of kicked me out just as quickly as the narration.

I feel the narrator was relatively unessesary, and many of the lines of dialogue, i really felt were out of place, or didn't mesh well with the story. Honestly, it's game where the narration should really add to it, but more often than not i felt it pulling me out of the game because of lines i didn't expect or just lines that broke the feeling.

I normally go into this game expecting a big point, or big plot or big overarching theme 'redemption' 'exploration' 'overcoming of one's greif' 'growing up' honestly, I didn't feel any particular ONE theme from this game... and that saddens me because it could of been as enjoyable to me as Thomas was Alive if it had one thing and explored it well, rather than trying to touch on multiple things at once.

Get it really cheap for 2 hours of entertainment, more if you enjoy the more punishing execution style platformers, but be aware the mechanics themselves don't lend themselves well to the platform genres need of smooth, precise gameplay. It's a game that would of benefited more from a longer storyline or a more crisp singular point, than a second challenge mode and shorter story line. The story failed to buy me in, and so I was left, ultimately disappointed.

It's a good puzzle-platformer, a well-done one, with no bugs or glitches and a pretty interesting gameplay concept, but it's still far from my favorites. It's got its merits, and I can only recommend it for them, but it made me appreciate it without liking it. Why? Well, there are some downsides, that many could easily ignore, but for me they were important:

- that narrator was a really bad idea. It seems like an attempt to recreate the Bastion one, but a shallow, totally unsuccessful one that rather annoys and feels unnecessary.- the controls are only partially accurate. When it matters the most, like when trying to get the Pacifist achievement, one can easily notice they're rather clunky and imprecise.- the game idea / storyline is somehow just pretentious. Yeah, I get it, void, searching, profundity, philosophy, whatnot, but it never really "communicates" something to me, it doesn't come with any true revelation or original idea. It ends up feeling just as superficial as the narrator's texts.

Anyway, I loved the background music, the graphics are nice, and the gameplay concept of using the colors to transform the world is really interesting in my opinion, and captivating.

I can`t believe that I didn`t played Nihilumbra earlier. Its a wonderful game.

playing this game has a lot of feelings, its like beeing in an endless dream, full of hope, sadnes and happiness. But also it can feel being in a therapy, with an doctor who tells you how its feel to be depressive and how importan it is to feel that you can be something who can change the world, if not for others then for your selfe. All begins with a birth and all end with death.

You are a little nothing in this game, born as nothing and you thing you are nothing, but the more the speaker tells you the more you try to win. You learn and you see like a child, slowly but powerful, you learn that a little thing can be a little light, that this changes can move mountains. its like awakening from a depression into a live, a live you can love.

This game is an Artwork! its wonderfull and I`m happy that I finaly started to play this game!

10 of 10 Points

Pros:MusicLevel DesignAtmosphereStoryeasy to playcan be hard to masterdifferent colors for abilities

One of the most original game I have ever played. It's a platform game with a tale about sens of life, colours embellished with great artism put into it's graphics. Your eyes are going to feast by watching well-drawn stuff, starting landscapes through enemies and ending on small elements. This game is also innovative because of it's mechanics based on the manipulation of various colours used to beat each level. Finishing basic storyline will be a short (but with great atmosphere) experience, although you have also a hard mode called "Void Mode".I can fully recommend it for people who like platform games with original content.

this game is one of the best plataformer games I've ever played. I even stopped playing my favourite game to end this one it's really worth it. the sentences the narrator speak to you are really meaningful and the game it's very trucky. I recommend this game! totally a must have one

Great game. Very artistic, a show of reflection. Intended to be sad, but not as sad as it could seem. If you dismiss dramatic sentences or paths i would say "this is not for you" instead i'll say "play the game and see"The controls are good, the logic puzzles are swift, fresh and with reasonable challenge. You'll love to run from the void.

I think it's a must have if you like dark themed things and enjoy to see how things grow and change.

One of/if not my favorite modern era side scrollers to date. The only reason I hadn't played it or reviewed it much before is because I damn near beat the game and back on my phone (one of the few ever beaten btw). Glad to say that the PC version plays just as well.So it's a definite recommendation to anyone even vaguely interested.

Nihilumbra is a really hard game to review because it's almost impossible to describe properly.

You play as Born, a being that emerges from the Void & takes on a humanoid shape. You explore the world, gaining colours, each with an ability to help you progress. You 'paint' them onto a surface to activate that ability, whether it's making the surface slippery, sticky, burning hot, bouncy or conductive. You then use these colours to solve puzzles, defeat Void monsters & escape the Void as it hunts you across the side-scroller world.

Sounds a bit plain & simple, but it is actually a fabulous little game. The graphics are perfectly judged; pretty but simple, not overblown for a side-scroller. The music is as good as it gets, varied & often haunting & eerie.

The greatest part is the narration. It's not constant, but what there is, is a real asset to the game. I could never quite tell if it was Born's own voice berrating & encouraging him to resist & fight to exist, an external voice talking to Born, or simply a narrator talking to the player. The narration is presented in what can best be described as a moving picture-book, with the words that are being spoken appearing prominently on the screen in large text. You are able to play without stopping to wait for the text to fade though, which shows sensible design.

The puzzles are challenging, generally requiring you to make use of the newest colour, but always you have to think about all of them throughout. Even the length is perfectly balanced, with a 2nd play through built in if you haven't had enough, but doesn't necessarily add to the story.

In fact, I'm struggling to think of much that's wrong with Nihilumbra, aside from the fact that it is a very quirky game that won't appeal to everyone. At a stretch, it's not the ultimate in immersion, but given that Nihilumbra's main plot is only a few hours long, it doesn't need to be. Everything about it feels complete, a game that has fulfilled it's entire starting breif.

If you are interested in a well-rounded, well though-out & beautifully scripted game that is something totally different, then you will almost certainly get something out of Nihilumbra. I'm really pleased to be able to say I own & have played Nihilumbra.

I am one of those people that really loves the narration. It reminds me of Portal mixed with this cool flash animation I once played. The artwork is awesome, and I love the color scheme. It was a lot of fun to play.

Now for a more in-depth review:

Main Story: This is a really nice indie puzzle game, and the feel is similar to Portal. The concept of the colors is nice, but it does get repetitive the further you get into the game. Accept that you'll die a few times on some of the levels because you won't be prepared for what's coming. The puzzles are simple, though. If anything, play through the entire main story. It's short and worth trying.

Void Mode: Void mode is hard! I'll give them that. It's a nice challenge, but at times, it seems to be a little too difficult. You have to have the timing just right to get through the levels. As void mode goes on, you'll notice that some levels are super difficult and some are super easy. It feels like the developers might have been running out of ideas as it goes on (or just gave up - the cave levels on void mode are super easy). I got through the entire thing without help, so it's doable. Just accept that you'll die many, many, many times to get through it.

Secret Language: If you get to this point, it is worth playing through the main storyline in the secret language. It appears just to be the developer's rant mode. Some of it is really stupid, but some of it is really funny...especially the end. The one thing I didn't like is that they assumed that you are most likely a guy playing. Ummmm...no. I find that slightly offensive since I'm a girl and a gamer.

Achievements: They are super reasonable and at just the right difficulty. I'll admit I did look up which level the Easter egg was hidden (though I didn't look up where in the level). I would have eventually found it if I replayed the entire game again to look for it. I saved that achievement for last (after already having played the game through three times), and I was being lazy.

Overall, I would highly recommend this game. I don't think it's for everyone, but it is a fun way to pass the time. Yes, it's worth the cost with or without a sale. :)